


Heart of a Princess

by NightshadeDawn



Series: All Hail the King [4]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 01:39:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11818512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightshadeDawn/pseuds/NightshadeDawn
Summary: Many things happened while Hinata was in captivity. Natsu meeting one of her kingdom's soldiers was one of them.





	Heart of a Princess

**Author's Note:**

> Based off the prompt: "If it wasn't for her crown, I never would have guessed she was a princess."

        Time had numbed the pain. Well, as much as her heart would allow anyway.

        Shoyou was gone, and it had devastated Natsu.

        There had been no demands of ransom for his return. No word on whether he was alive. By most, he was presumed dead.

        For many weeks, Natsu had locked herself up in her room.

        She refused to eat, she couldn't sleep. She tried not to think.

        Nothing helped. 

        It took a lot of time, but finally Sora had coaxed the young girl from her room. She was taken to the garden, and fed some light lunch.

        A young man stood at attention a few feet away, watching them carefully.

        "Who's that?" Natsu asked. 

        Sora looked behind her and spotted the boy. "Oh, you haven't met Sochiro yet. After Queen-" Sora took a deep breath. "After what happened, King Tobio had increased the guard around the castle. He's, ah, your other guard."

        "I don't need another guard. I've got you."

        Sora chuckled. "My lady, I have less than half the sight I once possessed. I cannot protect you as I once did. I can use all the help I can get," she explained. 

        Natsu wasn't happy about it. 

        Thirteen years old, and had been through hell. 

        The more people she had in her life, the more people there was to care about. 

        She couldn't care any more.

***

        Sochiro was an annoying twit in Natsu's mind.

        Sixteen years old, no age to be joining the army anyhow, and treated Natsu like a child.

        She did her best to avoid him.

        Natsu was not reckless, she didn't leave the palace. Guards were everywhere, they all kept eyes one her if she was near. Inside the palace walls were safe in these times. 

        But she couldn't really stand being near Sochiro. 

        She wasn't a child, she'd been hardened just like he had. Though what they'd experienced had been different, they stood on level playing fields.

***

        "Won't you please just leave me alone?" Natsu begged Sochiro. 

        "I cannot do that, princess," he said blandly. "It's my duty to protect you in the absence of Miss Sora. Now let me escort you to your room."

        "Oh, those old gnashbabs won't miss me if I'm late for dinner," she complained. 

        Sochiro gave her a look. "You shouldn't use language like that, young lady," he told her sternly. Then he broke out in a snort and grinned. "There are a few jobernowls in there, isn't there?"

        Natsu turned up her nose. "Why Uncle Tobio would ever meet with a bunch of muckspout like that? They're so varlet."

        This time, Sochiro burst out laughing, doubling over. He looked up at Natsu. "Who the bloody hell taught you to curse like that?" he questioned. 

        "I get board. Who do you think?"

        Sochiro rolled his eyes. "What if we make a compromise?" he suggested. 

        "What _kind_ of compromise?" Natsu asked, intrigued.

        Sochiro grinned mischievously. "Let me actually do my job and guard you, and I'll teach you words I'd bet you've never heard before."

        Natsu didn't hesitate in her answer. "Deal."

***

        It wasn't nearly as fun as being with Shoyou, Natsu thought, but Sochiro was alright. For a boy.

        He was interesting. 

        He didn't nearly find her cursing habits as annoying as Tobio and Hanako did. In fact, he found them hilarious.

        Sochiro would often accompany her to wherever she was going, and only stopped her from shenanigans if they would harm her. He usually aided her in getting in trouble. 

        He also did just about everything she asked of him. Carry her around on his back? Done every other day. Teach her more curse words? Well, she was always sprouting new ones. Occasionally, he even read to her in the library.

        The way he read reminded her of Shoyou, and she would end up falling asleep. Sochiro would pick her up and carry back to her room, where Sora would take her and tuck her into bed. 

        The feeling left in their hearts was both warm and comfortable, but scary too.

***

        "Oh, he's such a princod," Natsu muttered, looking out the window at the retreating nobles and political leaders who had been meeting with Kageyama again.

        Sochiro snorted. "Oi. Look at that one. He's an ochouser."

        "What? No!" Natsu gasped, leaning out the window as she looked at the one Sochiro had indicated. "I don't believe it! He's a nice man!"

        Sochiro snorted again, leaning against the stone wall and flipping through a book while grabbing the back of Natsu's shirt and dragging her back into the room so she didn't fall out. "Yeah, until you get him alone-" Natsu began hitting him with his book. "Ack! Ow! How are you so strong?! You don't even need a guard, do you?!"

        Natsu sighed, tossing the book back at Sochiro and going back to leaning on the window sill. "Rantallion."

        Sochiro gasped, mostly fake. "How _dare_ you!" he exclaimed dramatically. "I'll have you know they're _both_ normal sized."

        Natsu scrunched up her nose in disgust. "Ew. TMI, Sochiro," she complained. Sochiro chuckled. 

        "You're the one that started it," he said.

        Natsu groaned. "Shut up, dumbass."

        "You're such an uppishman," Sochiro muttered, getting to his feet and wiping off the dirt.

        "No the one who's an uppishman is Uncle Tobio," Natsu comment offhandedly.

        Sochiro laughed again. "You amuse me, child."

        "I'm not a child."

        Natsu was fourteen years old, and she'd found a friend who was helping her heal.

***

        Tobio was rarely seen. 

        He was always in his study or meeting with people who would help him win the war or get Shoyou back.

        The only time Natsu saw him was at meal times, and his words were more clipped than usual. 

        Natsu often sought the comfort of Hanako, for a mother is at times the only one who knows how to comfort her child. 

        But when her mother got sick, Natsu didn't want to bother her with her troubles. 

        She wept alone on a bench in the middle of the hedge maze, a place she'd mastered by the time she was eleven.

        Sochiro found her, and without even asking what was wrong, sat by her and held her, allowing her to cry into his chest.

        "It's okay," he murmured, stroking her hair. "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay."

        And Natsu gripped his shirt tightly, as if she'd never let go.

***

        The first time it had happened, it'd been an accident. 

        The first time Sochiro had kissed Natsu, he'd been _furious_ with himself. 

        He was eighteen, she was fifteen. What he'd done, believed by just about every country all over the world, wasn't moral and _shouldn't happen_.

        "I don't see what the problem is!" Natsu shouted after him as Sochiro stormed away. 

        He turned sharply, gripping her shoulders tightly, making the younger girl wince. "No, you don't," he said lowly. "I like you, alright?! And _that_ is the problem! I am an adult, now. I can't- I _can't_ be with you-"

        The second time they kissed, Natsu instigated it. And honestly, no shits were given after that.

***

        Shoyou returned, broken and bruised, but _alive_. And that was all that mattered to Natsu.

        She threw her arms around his body and squeezed tightly, making sure he was _really there_ and she wasn't just seeing things. 

        "I never gave up hope," she whimpered, tears splattering on his shirt. "Never, never, never."

        "I'm home, Natsu," Shoyou told her, running a hand through her hair and crying too. "I'm home."

        "Welcome home, big bro."

***

        Sochiro had never been on a horse once in his life. Not _once_. Natsu, however, rode like she was a trained professional. 

        Well, she _had_ been riding since she was eight. She'd gotten a little rusty over the last few years, but she still looked magnificent. 

        Sora stood next to Sochiro's horse, smirking lightly. "She's pretty, isn't she?" she asked. 

        "Yeah," Sochiro admitted. "But you know..."

        Ripped jeans and a tattered t-shirt, Natsu was everything you wouldn't expect of a princess. A foul tongue and ratty hair, she was anything but a _lady_.

        "If it wasn't for her crown, I never would have guessed she was a princess."

        "But you'd love her anyway?"

        "Obviously."

**Author's Note:**

> Honest to god, all of those were real curses used back in the day. (Which was a Wednesday, by the way) I'm sorry I'm bringing my terrible puns into this. 
> 
> Thank you for all your support!


End file.
